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Posted by The Warranty Stud on February 12, 2007, 10:43 pm
I used to work for a home warranty company and it was amazing the
amount of complaints that would come in, as if homeowners were
expecting their $400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold
somehow.
Never mind that a disturbing proportion of homeowners are too busy to
read and understand the terms and conditions of the policy, or they
get sucked into dealing with dishonest real estate agents who are too
busy to explain that "Well, you have to pay additional amount for the
well pump coverage".
Of course, some of the contractors are bottom-feeders as well, but I
don't think the sampling of contractors affiliated with any warranty
company is significantly different from a typical sampling of
contractors from the Yellow Pages.
Now home warranty plans are greatly helped by the wave of McMansion
Developments in which the HVAC goes out within 5-6 months of each
other on the whole entire block (say, 10 years after building). Wow,
what whopping good equipment that was installed in the first place,
probably some crap like Janitrol or Carrier.
And then even a few (thankfully not a majority) homeowners expect
their bottom-of-the-barrel Caloric range to be replaced with Viking
equipment! Or a Maytag refrigerator with a Subzero!
And then I loved the H/O's who shell out $800,000 for some 2K square
foot disaster-waiting-to-happen and then get all ancy because they
can't afford a new furnace. WELL IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD A NEW FURNACE
THEN YOU CAN'T AFFORD AN $800,000 McMoneypit to begin with.
But then I also dug the occasional homeowner who had a Renewal policy
(!) and then asks some really ignorant questions that he/she should
have figured out 15 months ago when he/she first closed and got the
warranty policy, and then mouths off, "Oh these home warranties are
shit, I don't even know why I renewed." Well, DUH, why DID you renew?
Cheers,
The Warranty Stud
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Posted by Malcolm Hoar on February 12, 2007, 11:47 pm
>
>I used to work for a home warranty company and it was amazing the
>amount of complaints that would come in, as if homeowners were
>expecting their $400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold
>somehow.
>
>Never mind that a disturbing proportion of homeowners are too busy to
>read and understand the terms and conditions of the policy, or they
>get sucked into dealing with dishonest real estate agents who are too
>busy to explain that "Well, you have to pay additional amount for the
>well pump coverage".
Most home buyers don't even see the terms and conditions until
well after closing when the home warranty company gets around
to mailing them out.
Most home buyers are led into paying for the home warranty
plan and many think it's just another one of those mandatory
taxes and fees that gets tacked on as part of the escrow
process.
Home warranty plans exist to protect the seller, realtors,
home inspector, escrow agent and all the other hangers on,
from getting dragged into a dispute in the event an
appliance breaks shortly after closing.
Smart buyers insist that the seller pays for the plan. Of
course, smart sellers build the cost into the selling price.
So generally, the buyer pays one way or the other, and
then expects service per all of the marketing hype and
absent the actual agreement.
Home warranty companies, realtors and others are pretty
happy with the status quo so nothing much is likely to
change.
--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Posted by Joseph Meehan on February 13, 2007, 7:53 am
The Warranty Stud wrote:
> I used to work for a home warranty company and it was amazing the
> amount of complaints that would come in, as if homeowners were
> expecting their $400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold
> somehow.
Of course they do, that is exactly what they were lead to believe by the
salesmen who are on commission and likely are getting more of that $400 than
the home owner will ever see back.
--
Joseph Meehan
Dia 's Muire duit
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Posted by hallerb@aol.com on February 13, 2007, 8:23 am
wrote:
> The Warranty Stud wrote:
> > I used to work for a home warranty company and it was amazing the
> > amount of complaints that would come in, as if homeowners were
> > expecting their $400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold
> > somehow.
>
> =A0 =A0 Of course they do, that is exactly what they were lead to believe=
by the
> salesmen who are on commission and likely are getting more of that $400 t=
han
> the home owner will ever see back.
>
> --
> Joseph Meehan
>
> =A0Dia 's Muire duit
Lots of warranty companies are rip offs, they tend to be one time
purchases by design so the company has no long term interest in
customer satisisfaction, just PROFIT:(
I sold a home a couple years ago and bought the warranty for the new
owner, to be nice and help sell house.
Although nearly every appliance was BRAND NEW except the urnace which
I had serviced.
My experience was that everyone involved in home selling was a JERK,
espically the home inspecors.
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Posted by Eigenvector on February 13, 2007, 8:33 pm
> The Warranty Stud wrote:
>> I used to work for a home warranty company and it was amazing the
>> amount of complaints that would come in, as if homeowners were
>> expecting their $400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold
>> somehow.
>
> Of course they do, that is exactly what they were lead to believe by
> the salesmen who are on commission and likely are getting more of that
> $400 than the home owner will ever see back.
>
> --
> Joseph Meehan
>
> Dia 's Muire duit
>
Well I just bought my first home in March, last year that is, and I can tell
you that in my case the home warranty just kind of appeared there with the
paperwork along with a bill for it. I honestly thought it was part of the
closing costs and wrote a check.
Having been duped for a year when I got the renewal in December I called
them up and canceled - seemed like the most natural thing in the world for
the nice lady on the other end of the line. Obviously they are exactly what
you say - one shot deals for new home suckers.
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